IIT Goa PhD Admission 2026-27 Spring Semester

IIT Goa invites online applications for admission to PhD Program for academic year 2026-27 Spring Semester.

Application Categories for PhD admission

Full-Time or Regular PhD programme

• Teaching Assistantship (TA): Students get fellowship from the institute as per the guidelines by the Ministry of Education.
• TA through Project (TAP): Students get fellowship from the research project and partial support from the institute
• Govt./ Semi Govt. Fellowship Awards such as CSIR-JRF, UGC-JRF, etc.
• Sponsored: A student in this category is sponsored by an R&D organization, academic institution, government organization, or industry for doing research in the institute on a full-time basis. The institute does not provide any assistantship/fellowship to such a student.
• Self-financed: A student in this category works full-time or part-time towards the PhD program. The institute does not provide any assistantship/fellowship to such a student.

Part-Time PhD programme

A student in this category is a professionally employed person (including IIT Goa staff), who pursues the PhD program while continuing the duties of the employment. The institute does not provide any assistance/fellowship to such a student.

• Permanent employees from state or central government universities, colleges, or research institutes and labs
• External – This category refers to a student employed in an R&D organisation/academic institution/industry having adequate research facilities. The research work leading to the PhD degree may be carried out largely in the parent organisation of the candidate under a Local Supervisor from the organisation but with the overall guidance provided by a faculty member (Institute Supervisor) of the AU in which the student is registered.
• Self-sponsored
• Permanent staff of IIT Goa

Areas of Specialisation

Computer Science and Engineering (CSE)

• Institute TA category:
  • Programming and Interactive Theorem Proving
  • Cyber Physical Systems
  • Machine Learning
  • In-Context Learning (ICL) – Chain
  • Robust Optimization
  • Game Theory and Mechanism Design
  • AI Processors, FPGA, Medical Devices (Computing Hardware), Digital Systems for TinyML, Hardware for Video Systems, Lightweight Cryptography Hardware
  • Theoretical Computer Science
• Part-time:
  • Machine Learning, Game Theory, and Mechanism Design
  • Theoretical Computer Science

Chemical and Materials Engineering (CME)

• Institute TA category (UR/OBC/SC/ST):
  • Design and Development of High-Performance Electrodes for Next-Generation Batteries
  • Surface and Interface Engineering of Advanced Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage

Chemistry

• Institute TA category:
  • Theoretical Physical Chemistry
  • Experimental Physical Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry
• JRF category:
  • Theoretical Physical Chemistry
  • Experimental Physical Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry

Humanities and Social Science

• Institute TA category:
  • Economics
    • Macroeconomics
    • Macro-Finance
    • Behavioural and Experimental Economics
    • Health Economics
    • Causal Inference and Applied Microeconometrics
• JRF category:
  • Economics
    • Green Finance
    • Financial Economics
    • Blue economy

Electrical Engineering

• Institute TA category:
  • Communication and Signal Processing
  • Power Engineering
  • VLSI and Microengineering
• JRF category:
  • VLSI and Microengineering:
• TAP category:
  • VLSI and Microengineering
• Part-time:
  • Communication and Signal Processing
  • VLSI and Microengineering

Mechanical Engineering

• Institute TA category:
  • Solid Mechanics and Design
  • Fluid and Thermal Sciences
  • Manufacturing

Mathematics

• Institute TA and JRF category:
  • Partial Differential Equations and Numerical Analysis
  • Functional Analysis
  • Nonlinear Functional Analysis and PDE (the knowledge of Multivariate Calculus, Functional Analysis and Measure Theory is required)
  • Analytic Number Theory

Physics

• Institute TA category:
  • Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology
  • Experimental Quantum Photonics
  • Quantum Information and Communication Theory
  • Statistical mechanics at the micrometer scale
  • Theoretical High Energy Physics
• JRF category:
  • Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology
  • Experimental Quantum Photonics
  • Quantum Information and Communication Theory
  • Statistical mechanics at the micrometer scale
  • Theoretical High Energy Physics

Eligibility Criteria

Full-time PhD program

Applicants must have one of the following in appropriate subject areas:

• Master’s Degree in Engineering/Technology or equivalent degree with 60% marks or CPI 6/10 or equivalent. (55% marks or CPI 5.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST).
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent degree in Engineering/Technology with 70% marks or CPI 7/10 or equivalent. (65% marks or CPI 6.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST).
• Master’s degree in science, arts, social sciences, or equivalent degree with 60% marks or CPI 6/10 or equivalent. (55% marks or CPI 5.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST).
• Bachelor’s degree in science with 4-year/8-semester or equivalent degree with 70% marks or CPI 7/10 or equivalent (65% marks or CPI 6.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST).

Applicants must also fulfill one of the following additional requirements:

• For engineering stream:
  • Qualified GATE in the relevant streams. (Candidates with B.E./B.Tech/B.S./MCA/M.Sc. degree or equivalent relevant degree must have a valid GATE score).
  • Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) of CSIR/ UGC/ NBHM/ DBT/ ICAR/ ICMR/ ICPR Fellowship in the relevant streams.
  • B.Tech/B.S./Dual degree from CFTIs with a minimum CPI/CGPA of 7.5 or equivalent (CPI/CGPA 7/10 or equivalent for SC/ST).
  • Minimum of 2 years of professional experience. (Acquired after obtaining the qualifying degree and completed before the start of the semester in which admission is sought) in the relevant areas. (Applicable to B.Tech/ B.E./ B.S./MCA/M.Sc. qualifying degree candidates).
• For science stream:
  • Qualified GATE/CSIR /UGC-NET/JEST in the relevant streams.
  • Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) of CSIR/ UGC/ NBHM/ DBT/ ICAR/ ICMR/ ICPR Fellowship, etc, in the relevant streams.
  • B.Tech 3 degree in Mathematics and Computing from IIT with a CPI/CGPA of 8.0 or more.
• For humanities and social science stream:
  •  UGC-NET/GATE Qualified in the relevant streams.
  • UGC-NET/JRF Qualified Candidates are encouraged to apply
  • Candidates with a minimum 70% marks or equivalent in their Master’s degree (65% or equivalent for SC/ST) in Economics may also be considered (Non-UGC-NET/GATE Candidates)

Part-time PhD program

Applicants must have ONE of the following in appropriate subject areas:

• Master’s Degree in Science/ Engineering/ Technology or equivalent degree with 60% marks or CPI 6/10 or equivalent. (55% marks or CPI 5.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST) marks or equivalent and a minimum of two (02) years of work experience at the time of application.
• Bachelor’s degree in Science/Engineering/Technology with 60% marks or CPI 6/10 or equivalent. (55% marks or CPI 5.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST) or equivalent and a minimum of four (04) years of work experience at the time of application.
• Master’s degree in Science/Engineering/Technology or equivalent degree with 60% marks or CPI 6/10 or equivalent. (55% marks or CPI 5.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST) or equivalent from IIT/ IISER/ IIIT/ IISc/ NIT and a minimum of one (01) year of work experience at the time of application.
• Bachelor’s degree in Science/Engineering/Technology or equivalent degree with 80% marks or CPI 8/10 or equivalent (75% marks or CPI 7.5/10 or equivalent for SC/ST) or equivalent from IIT/ IISER/ IIIT/ IISc/ NIT and a minimum of one (01) year of work experience at the time of application.

Application Process

Candidates are required to submit the online application at www.iitgoa.ac.in

Please read the instructions carefully before applying.

How to Apply

1. To initiate the new registration process, please click on “New User Registration”.
2. Enter a valid email ID for verification. (Note: Your email ID will be verified only once and can be used for applying to multiple programs.)
3. After successfully verifying your email ID, you may proceed to register for different programs. Kindly submit separate applications for each program.
4. Please log in to the portal using your registered credentials.
5. Candidates are required to accurately complete all sections of the form and save the information.
6. Upload the following documents: recent passport size photograph (maximum 200KB), scanned copy of your signature (maximum 12KB), a comprehensive CV, and relevant mark sheets in accordance with eligibility criteria (Maximum 400KB). Ensure that your CV includes details of projects completed during your bachelor’s and master’s studies, as well as any awards or recognitions received.
7. Provide the necessary payment details. Please be note that the application submission process will not proceed without this information.
8. Carefully enter the payment details, as they cannot be edited after submission (refer to the corresponding section).
9. Once you have filled in all the required details, review your application by clicking “Preview and Submit”. After the final submission, the system will not allow any further edits.
10. Candidates desirous to apply for more than one program should apply for each program separately along with payment of the application fee for each program.

For academic queries, please contact: academic_query@iitgoa.ac.in
For technical issues, please contact: phd_tec_issue@iitgoa.ac.in

• Start date of application (online only): 26 October, 2026
• Last date for submitting an online application form and completing the payment: 13 November, 2026
• Commencement of classes for the Spring Semester: 7 January, 2027

• Brochure
• Application
• IIT Goa Website